Marco Polo Didn’t Go There

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There

In 2008-published Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, American travel writer Rolf Potts presents an anthology of previously published works drawn from a decade of travel around the world. The pieces touch on a raft of issues, such as backpacker culture, overtourism, press trips and ecotourism and are an interesting and at times very funny page turner.

I read almost the entire book on a single sitting, beachside in Bali (and have the sunburn to prove it), in part I confess because so much of the book was like reading a telling of my own travels. While the stories are unfortunately not specifically dated, Potts and myself were clearly kicking around some of the same destinations at around the same time. I couldn’t help but see myself in some of the tales—a sensation that certainly kept the pages flipping.

Potts is an engaging and, at times, very amusing writer. The story set in Cairo where he purchased a 20-second donkey ride for a pen (he thought he was purchasing the donkey) had me laughing out loud. Meanwhile, Indian soldiers stumble upon a somewhat under-prepared Potts in the Himalayas, trying to smash a wooden door (for firewood). Suspecting him of taking photos, one Lt. Diesel says “This is a dangerous border, and it’s not for tourists. Why did you bring a door?”

Oh India.

While the book is rich in amusing anecdotes (the Rishikesh chapter is spectacular), many of which will be familiar to anyone who has travelled independently outside their home country, Potts does have a more serious tilt. This surfaces repeatedly through the book as he muses on questions revolving around travel.

In Kontum (a little-visited provincial capital in Vietnam’s Central Highlands), the realities of Potts’ imagined time in the untouristed clashes with the realities of travel in remote areas. He has an unpleasant interaction with a local guy and finds himself asking, repeatedly, why am I here?

“The decision that brought me there [to Kontum] was not a savvy act of independent travel, but an insipid act of negation—a ritual of avoiding other travelers, as if this in itself was somehow significant.”

Indeed, my own experience in Komtum was not dissimilar—it took me some years to untangle myself from one particular operator there. On another occasion, when Sam and I travelled to a remote area of Laos (Pha Udom) only because it was marked on a map, we found ourselves feeling likewise somewhat out of place. The locals, while not rude, were far from welcoming. A local kid asked a friend (in Lao), “Why do they keep smiling at me?” Indeed, what were we doing there?

Later, at the conclusion of a very interesting chapter about Australia’s outback, Potts has an epiphany around the loaded term “authenticity”. After all, how many times have travellers, seeking “the authentic”, baulked at Thais dining at Maccas or Indonesians lining up at Starbucks? Says Potts, to my mind nailing a pretty solid definition while simultaneously dovetailing it with another concept of travel close to my heart, slow travel:

“This is because authenticity anywhere is an internal dialogue within a culture as it synthesizes its past with the present, hoping to better navigate a changing world. The job of the traveler, I reckon, is to slow down and listen so that he can hear snippets of that conversation.”

Slow travel is implied often through the stories, but, in a captivating chapter early in the collection, Potts deftly captures one of the joys of just letting travel take you where it wants you to. Hitching near the Polish border, he aims for a ride just over the border, but the convivial crew convince him to join them to Krakow. Later, while still in the car, he falls asleep and wakes later ... in Budapest.

“What happened in Slovakia?” he asks of his companions.

Most of the chapters are accompanied by a series of endnotes (Potts calls them “special commentary tracks”), which work to explain some of the backstories that didn’t make it into the piece. I found many of these to be fascinating and certainly learned a thing or two about writing, but one of the ones related to the hitching chapter reveals something I’ve repeatedly experienced myself. During the drive, Potts pays for a tank of gas without the knowledge of the driver, Ervin, who was subsequently deeply insulted when he found out. As Potts says, “When you come from a wealthy country, it’s easy to forget how the simplest of gestures might seem patronizing.”

Self awareness and being mindful of your surroundings matters.

When Potts is drugged and robbed in Istanbul, he later weaves it into his life experiences, which he refers to in passing as “resume weaving”.

“In time, this exercise of memory renders things relative: it makes you realize that things could have been much, much worse; it makes you realize that bad experiences on the road or otherwise, help you experience good experiences otherwise forgotten.”

When my travelling companion and I were robbed in Mexico on our first trip overseas, my companion lost everything except for a sleeping bag, a camping stove and a copy of Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being—much pop psychology followed on from that event—what do you really need in life? Had the thieves given us a message?!

While Potts and I obviously had many of the same stomping grounds, one of my favourite chapters though was set in Cairo, somewhere I’ve never been. Potts is enmeshed in the traveller scene at backpacker crash pad, the Sultan Hotel. Sounding very much like the fictionalised On On Hotel in Alex Garland’s The Beach, the Sultan and its guests are absolutely my kind of scene, and it was pleasing to read a great defence of backpacker culture:

“At one level my companions and I were indolent and impulsive in Cairo, skimming the surface of a culture as we cooked rabbits, ogled belly dancers, and swilled duty-free booze. But most of us also studied Arabic and learned the rhythms of the neighbourhood around Orabi Square; we attended Sunni mosques and Coptic churches; we lingered in tea shops and made Egyptian friends. Moreover the Sultan Hotel (like many backpacker haunts) was a curiously class-free environment, where a Melbourne construction worker could hang out with a Pennsylvania Ivy Leaguer and an Egyptian fruit vendor in a spirit of mutual respect and curiosity.”

Yes, backpacking and the scene deserves some of the flogging and ridicule it receives, but as Potts continues on to say “... but they are generally going through a more life-affecting process than one would find on a standard travel holiday.”

Amen to that.

This is however a book about much more than backpacking and backpackers. A series of chapters, clustered under “The dubious thrill of press trips” will be of interest to anyone involved in professional travel writing. Potts neatly sums them up: “Even the most enjoyable press trips... are never created for the mere sake of enjoyment.” Indeed.

The previously mentioned end notes make this also a handy text for the student of travel writing, as the notes are both instructive and revealing, pointing the reader to the thinking behind why something was omitted from or embellished in the published piece.

At one stage, Potts touches on expat culture (which I’d count myself a member of, as while we came to Southeast Asia with two backpacks if we ever return home it will be with a twenty foot container), saying “Every out of the way province in Southeast Asia, it seemed, had a few guys like him—aging expats who’d lived remarkable lives, enjoyed their anonymity, and had no plans of going home.”

In the next to final chapter, in a passage which will strike home to any long term traveller returning home, Potts is back home in Kansas and feels lost.

“Now that I was in Kansas visiting family, however—strolling around a town where I didn’t look much different from the locals—I felt somehow more isolated than in any place I’d discovered in the hinterland of Burma.”

Then later on the same thread:

“Somehow the thrill of that journey [to Burma] contained a hint of narcissism—an egoistic desire to see myself, vivid and unique, in the reflection of a land so unlike my own. Minneapolis, Kansas offered no such temptation; it had only offered itself, in all its understated and charming reality.”

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There will appeal to anyone who has done a bit of independent travelling—delivered with enough self deprecating humour to have you nodding and laughing at the same time. For the student of travel writing, it is a must read. Rolf Pott’s website also has plenty of material including some interesting videos, which are well worth a look.

More titles

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IN THE TIME OF MADNESSBy Richard Lloyd ParryIn the Time of Madness is arguably the most compelling book written about Indonesia in the late 20th century. British correspondent Richard Lloyd Parry brings the roiling turmoil of the era to life with his snappy but sensitive reportage. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

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MAP OF THE INVISIBLE WORLDBy Tash AwMap of the Invisible World is at heart the story of two Indonesian brothers separated when they are adopted out by different families from an orphanage. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

ON THE JAVA RIDGEBy Jock SerongA fast-paced political thriller rather than a travel tale, On the Java Ridge explores the humanity behind Australia’s draconian border policies. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

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THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLYBy Christopher J. KochYes, the shadow puppet as a metaphor for Indonesia’s (or at least Java’s) political system has been done to death, but Christopher J. Koch’s The Year of Living Dangerously is perhaps the book that polishes it off best, even if unironically. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

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UNDER THE VOLCANOBy Cameron ForbesUnder the Volcano by Cameron Forbes is one of the better easy-reading histories and modern reportage books on Bali. ... moreBook Depository

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AFTERLAND: POEMSBy Mai Der VangYou might not immediately consider that the American War in Laos and the Hmong refugee experience form natural subjects for poems. But Afterland by Mai Der Vang is an extraordinary collection of powerful poems that excavate the humanity of those swept up in the war and the subsequent exodus of some 300,000 Hmong refugees to the United States. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

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THE CORONER'S LUNCH: A DR SIRI MURDER MYSTERYBy Colin CotterillThe Coroner’s Lunch is an intelligently fun and readable murder mystery set in Laos. This is the first book we’ve read by prolific author Colin Cotterill, and it won’t be the last. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

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Malaysia

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WHEN THE FUTURE COMES TOO SOONBy Selina Siak Chin YokeCovering a period in a setting rarely covered in English-language literature, When the Future Comes Too Soon, by author Selina Siak Chin Yoke (born in Singapore when it was part of Malaysia), is a welcome fictional tale of Mei Foong and her family during the Japanese occupation of Malaya—today’s Malaysia. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

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THE LAST LESSON OF MRS DE SOUZABy Cyril WongThe Last Lesson of Mrs de Souza is the somewhat poignant tale of Singaporean teacher Rose de Souza, who recounts her last day as a school teacher before retirement. Cyril Wong’s short, elegant novel, published in 2013, peers into Singaporean school life, which can naturally be seen as a microcosm of Singaporean society. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

Thailand

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BANGKOK: A CULTURAL AND LITERARY HISTORYBy Maryvelma O’NeilMaryvelma O’Neil’s 2008-published Bangkok: A Cultural and Literary History is an eclectic, erudite and elegant glide through the history of Thailand, with a focus on its modern capital, Bangkok. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

HOTHOUSE FLOWERBy Lucinda RileyHothouse Flower is a sprawling, multi-generational family saga mostly set in the United Kingdom in the modern day, with Bangkok at the end of World War II featuring as the secondary setting. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

JASMINE NIGHTSBy S.P. SomtowA novel not easily defined by genre, S.P. Somtow’s 1994-published Jasmine Nights is at its heart a rollicking, irreverent coming-of-age tale set in upper-class Thai society in the 1960s. It tells the story of English-educated Justin, or Little Frog, mysteriously left by his parents with his extended family in a sprawling compound in Bangkok. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

MAI PEN RAI MEANS NEVER MINDBy Carol HollingerMemoirs of expatriates aren’t our favourite genre when it comes to Southeast Asian reading, but Carol Hollinger’s Mai Pen Rai Means Never Mind is the best of its kind to come out of Thailand. ... moreAmazon

MANY LIVESBy M.R Kukrit PramojThe late M.R Kukrit Pramoj was a celebrated statesman, journalist, classical dancer, writer and “one of the most imposing and impressive personalities of modern Thai history”, according to scholar and translator, Meredith Borthwick. ... moreAmazon

SIGHTSEEINGBy Rattawut LapcharoensapI love reading about a place that I am travelling through, and all-the-better if the book makes me squirm with horrible recognition: ... moreAmazonBook Depository

TALES OF OLD BANGKOK: RICH STORIES FROM THE LAND OF THE WHITE ELEPHANTBy Chris BurslemTales of Old Bangkok: Rich Stories from the Land of the White Elephant is a collection of colourful snippets from various written sources about Bangkok, mostly from the 1800s through to the 1960s. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THAI STREET FOODBy David ThompsonPart recipe book, part coffee-table art, Thai Street Food is a wonderful celebration of, well, Thailand’s street food. And it’s even more than a pretty recipe book: Chef and Thai food expert David Thompson also includes plenty of interesting history and reportage about the street food of the kingdom. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE 1904 TRAVELLER'S GUIDE TO BANGKOK AND SIAMBy J. AntonioFalling firmly into the “you should have been here yesterday” genre of travel guides, J. Antonio’s book offers a quirky, interesting look at the Thai Kingdom during the years of Chulalongkorn’s reign. ... moreAmazon

THE BEACHBy Alex GarlandSet to be re-released by Penguin on July 7 to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of its publishing, The Beach by Alex Garland was hailed as being the quintessential Southeast Asian backpacking novel. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE DRINKING FOOD OF THAILANDBy Andy Ricker with JJ GoodeFlicking through Andy Ricker’s The Drinking Food of Thailand, I was immediately and naturally drawn to the recipe for Isaan fermented pork-and-rice sausages, one of my favourite Thai foods. Is there any chance I would make these at home? Pretty much no. I don’t have a sausage maker, nor a sausage funnel. But when it comes to being pleased at holding this hot little 2017-published recipe book in my hand, does it matter? No. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE IDEAL MAN: THE TRAGEDY OF JIM THOMPSON AND THE AMERICAN WAY OF WARBy Joshua KurlantzickA detailed biography of the American spy-turned-silk-king Jim Thompson, The Ideal Man explores decades of intriguing US-Thai relations as a necessary backdrop to his life. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTHBy Richard FlanaganThe 2014 Man Booker winner is a deep, dark and important read. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE SAD PART WASBy Prabda YoonPrabda Yoon won the prestigious SEA Write Award for Kwam Na Ja Pen (Probability) in 2002, but it’s only now that these stories have been translated into English for The Sad Part Was. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE WINDUP GIRLBy Paolo BacigalupiEven if you’re not a fan of science fiction—it’s certainly not a genre we usually pick up—if you’re interested in Thailand and in particular the craziness of Bangkok and where it might be headed as we hurtle into the decades ahead, The Windup Girl makes for a good dystopian read. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

VERY THAI: EVERYDAY POPULAR CULTUREBy Philip Cornwel-SmithIt’s more than a decade old, but 2005-published Very Thai: Everyday Popular Culture by Philip Cornwel-Smith remains a fun, offbeat examination of ordinary Thai lifestyles and culture. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

Vietnam

BRIGHT SHINING LIEBy Neil SheehanThis huge and highly awarded book is crucial reading for anyone with an interest not just in the Vietnam War, but Vietnam today, as it recovers from the aftermath of that tragedy (and also, war in general). Good news: the lengthy book is an utterly compelling and stunning read. ... moreAmazon

DESTINATION SAIGONBy Walter MasonDestination Saigon is part memoir, part reportage, a collection of intimate and often very funny stories by Walter Mason about his exploration of spirituality across Buddhist-majority Vietnam. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

DRAGON APPARENTBy Norman LewisDragon Apparent, first published in 1951, is Norman Lewis' account of his travels across French-controlled Indochina in the decades leading up to the American War. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

EAVES OF HEAVEN: A LIFE IN THREE WARSBy Andrew X. PhamEaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars is the extraordinary part-life story of author Andrew X. Pham’s Vietnamese father, Thong Van Pham. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

FISHING FOR TIGERSBy Emily MaguireFishing for Tigers by Australian author Emily Maguire is the tale of an American woman, Mischa, who moves to Hanoi after leaving an abusive relationship back home and remakes her life, working as an editor. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

MOST DANGEROUS: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM WARBy Steve SheinkinHow many more books do we need about the American War in Vietnam? Steve Sheinkin’s Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War proves there is room for more. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE BEST WE COULD DOBy Thi BuiThe Best We Could Do, by Thi Bui, is a beautifully drawn graphic memoir that tells the story of Thi’s parents before they fled Vietnam in 1978 with her and her siblings. More than this though, it’s also a quiet meditation on becoming a parent, and considering where she, her parents and her son sit in the generational story of their family. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE LOVERBy Marguerite DurasBased on her childhood growing up in and around Saigon in the 1930s, Marguerite Duras’ The Lover is a languid, almost meditative autobiographical novel at once erotic, disturbing, beautiful, shocking and revealing. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE PENGUIN HISTORY OF MODERN VIETNAMBy Christopher GoschaThink you’re smart, do you? Then this is the Vietnam book for you. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE QUIET AMERICANBy Graham GreeneThe Quiet American by Graham Greene is a classic not just about Vietnam — it portrays the nation at a crucial and intriguing juncture in its history — but about American foreign policy, and folly, as well. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE REFUGEESBy Viet Thanh NguyenFrom the Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, comes this collection of gently sad and poignant stories about Vietnamese refugees and their lives in the United States. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE SORROW OF WARBy Bao NinhHard-hitting, deeply earnest and unabashedly brutal, Bao Ninh’s 1994-published The Sorrow of War is a North Vietnamese war classic that remains essential reading for visitors to Vietnam today. Even if you don’t have a particular interest in the war years, it seems almost disrespectful to not read it if you are travelling to Vietnam. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE SYMPATHIZERBy Viet Thanh NguyenAnother American War in Vietnam novel? Really? We admit to thinking this on hearing about The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, but given it won the Pulitzer prize for fiction earlier this year (and being suckers for literary prizes), we had to give it a read. And: wow. What a refreshing, shocking, beautiful, thought-provoking read. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

TWO CITIES: HANOI AND SAIGONBy Neil SheehanTwo Cities: Hanoi and Saigon is a slim, elegant book by Neil Sheehan about Vietnam in 1989. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

WHEN THE WAR WAS OVERBy Elizabeth BeckerWhen the War Was Over by Elizabeth Becker is one of the most compelling, unputdown-able books on the modern history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

BARBARIAN DAYS: A SURFING LIFEBy William FinneganIt’s not focused on Southeast Asia — Indonesia gets the briefest of mentions — but if you’re a surfer (as so many travellers to this region are), you love a surfer (ditto), or you’re just intrigued by the culture (double ditto), Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life is for you. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

BLOOD AND SILK: POWER AND CONFLICT IN MODERN SOUTHEAST ASIABy Michael VatikiotisBlood and Silk is an erudite romp through Southeast Asia’s modern political and economic history in the hands of experienced regional hand Michael Vatikiotis. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

MY LIFE WITH BOB: FLAWED HEROINE KEEPS BOOK OF BOOKS, PLOT ENSUESBy Pamela PaulPamela Paul has kept a Book of Books (Bob) listing all the books she has read, or attempted to read, for 28 years. My Life With Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues, is Paul’s memoir of her life as a reader. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

PACIFIC: THE OCEAN OF THE FUTUREBy Simon WinchesterSimon Winchester’s 2015-published Pacific: The Ocean of the Future (or, in other editions, Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators and Fading Empires ) is an erudite series of compelling historical vignettes that together create a colourful portrait of the Pacific Ocean and its modern past. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE ART OF TRAVELBy Alain de BottonAlain de Botton’s The Art of Travel is a wonderfully wise and reassuring book. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE GLAMOUR OF STRANGENESSBy Jamie JamesErudite, colourful and packed with intriguing anecdotes, Jamie James’ Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic is a romp through a bygone era, studying the lives of six artists who left their homelands to pursue creativity elsewhere. ... moreAmazonBook Depository

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGSBy Elizabeth GilbertElizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love wasn't our cup of tea, but The Signature of All Things is another beast entirely. ... moreAmazonBook Depository